As first revealed by The Telegraph last week, the deal will see Channel 4 make its 4oD video-on-demand service of new programmes available via YouTube. It marks the first time any broadcaster in the world has made its full catch-up schedule available on the video sharing site. Content will be available for 30 days after broadcast, as it is on Channel 4’s own website

YouTube users will also be able to access around 3,000 hours of full length programming from the Channel 4 archive at any given time, including shows such as Derren Brown and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares.

A senior television source close to Channel 4 told The Telegraph last week that the deal would see Channel 4 transport its web service and brand onto YouTube. “When the Channel 4 content formally appears on YouTube, it will be branded exactly the same way as it is on the Channel 4 website. It will be a fully Channel 4 branded space and look as if someone has picked up 4 on Demand (Channel 4’s online catch up service) and put it on YouTube.”

Content will begin appearing in the coming months and be fully available in early 2010. All programmes will be available only in the UK, free-of-charge supported by advertising.

The deal will run for at least three years and will provide financial gain to Channel 4, as the broadcaster has struck a deal allowing it to sell the advertising around its own content as well as around some non-Channel 4 content on YouTube.

It is not clear at this stage how the advertising revenue would be split. However, several sources who have had experience in negotiating commercial terms with YouTube, expect the video-sharing site to be taking no less than a 30 per cent cut on each deal.

The Telegraph believes that both parties have been in discussions for at least the last six months. The deal is not exclusive, with both YouTube and Channel 4 understood to be actively seeking other content partners and platforms respectively.

There has been a surge of interest from several video aggregation sites in signing deals with the major UK broadcasters since the Competition Commission blocked Project Kangaroo, the joint video-on-demand venture from the BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, earlier this year. All three broadcasters are understood to be in negotiations with the likes of YouTube, Hulu – a US based video site and MSN Video– the Microsoft-owned video player.